


Trashy Fiction

by BobRussellFan



Series: Where's Beverly? [2]
Category: Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: deep fandom cut here, this is a nice one, those of you who were around places like this back in the 90s will know what I mean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-23 04:06:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23005471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BobRussellFan/pseuds/BobRussellFan
Summary: Sometime in the late 2390s, Admiral Picard has a brief reunion with "Number One."
Series: Where's Beverly? [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1657300
Comments: 10
Kudos: 17





	Trashy Fiction

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all! 
> 
> Hope this one sparks joy.

A few years ago 

"Do you remember me, sir?" 

It was not an easy question to hear in your nineties. Admiral Jean-Luc Picard turned from contemplating a not-very-interesting Gorn sculpture and studied the dark-haired young woman behind him; her hair was short (going no further than the back of her neck), she wore a dark green dress that was neither particularly fashionable nor unfashionable, she was somewhere between thirty-five and forty-five, with dark eyes and black-painted lips. 

Jean-Luc Picard had met a great many people in his life and he did not remember them all - but he did remember where he'd met most of them, or at least most of them of this young woman's age. "No, I'm sorry," he admitted politely. "Were you on the Enterprise?" 

Her lips curled into a smile as she said, "You could say that, sir." She took her hair, pulled it back in a ponytail that its length didn't quite support, and said "Number One?" 

It had been thirty years but he remembered. "Marissa!" His eyes lit up. "How have you been?" 

\- 

A little while later, they were sitting together at a table; Laris keeping a watchful eye on them from the corner of the room. No one was much interested in talking to a vineyard manager here at a meeting of the Federation's leading authors; just the way she liked it. A glass of wine in her hand, Marissa was just finishing "...after the treaty was signed, I resigned my commission and went back to school here on Earth." She looked up over her glass at him and asked softly, "Do you ever miss the Fleet?" 

Since they were in something like private, just the two of them at a table at a very crowded party, and because Laris hadn't signaled that there were any long-distance microphones pointed his way, Picard admitted with a slight, professional smile, "At times. What I don't miss is, ah, quantum filaments. How about you; are you happy in civilian life?" 

"Yes," said Marissa with a smile back, "I'm doing very well. I live on Titan now with my family." That, of course, brought out holos that Picard was only too happy to see - Marissa and a blonde-haired man about her own age, pictures of a son and daughter who were - 

"isn't she about the same age as you were-" 

"Yes!" Marissa laughed, blushing in her cheeks. "I am not ready to have that conversation, though. It's hard enough to talk to them about what I saw on Cardassia after the war, much less the fact that I had to escape from a turbolift when I was nine in the middle of a shipwide disaster. I told my son there used to be children on Starfleet ships and he laughed in my face." 

Picard winced slightly, and took a sip of his wine. "Ah, children." He thought of Elnor, who would have to be in his twenties by now, then did his best to think of something else. "What brings you here?" he asked, with occasional glancing around the room he still hadn't seen any sign of husband or children among all the rather serious-minded, seriously-dressed adults of various species in the room. "you said you're still in the sciences?" 

"Only part-time. I'm actually a, a full-time writer of fiction." She blushed again, then said, "Oh, by the way, I'll have to get your autograph before we go - my father is a _huge_ fan of your book about the war." Like most Starfleet officers of her generation, there was only one 'war' - the brutal, bloody conflict with the Dominion that in retrospect had shaped the Alpa and Beta Quadrants much more than anyone would have thought possible at the time - Marissa had missed it; a first-year cadet the year the war ended, and a staff officer on Cardassia during the subsequent reconstruction, but it had been part of her life too.

"Anything for an old friend," Picard told her warmly. "Was this your first sale?" Authors weren't compensated in money, of course, but finding a house willing to publicize a book took time and effort, and the rewards in status and influence could be impressive, as Laris occasionally reminded Picard when she was trying to get him to finish a manuscript. 

"Ah, no, actually, my..." She was _blushing_ again. "My twenty-, no, twenty-_sixth_." She grinned. "I mostly write for the Ferengi and Orion markets, but I have a good market in the Federation." 

"Really! Well, that's...wonderful." Picard considered her words, then said, "I take it your writing is, ah, of the romantic variety?" It wasn't that Picard was a particularly squeamish sort, particularly on matters of sex, not at his age and after the things he'd seen, but remembering Marissa as a ten year old made this a touchy subject. Evidently she thought so too. 

"Well that's one word for it..." Her voice trailed off, then she admitted with a shy smile, "Most of it's about Starfleet officers, actually. Dashing young sentients going off into space and, ah, grabbing their opportunities with both hands. It started as young adult fiction, but it wound up with a lot of, er, romantic elements." She took another drink, then added, "People sometimes look down on prose fiction these days, especially if it's about emotions rather than action. Like we're not really serious authors because we work in print rather than holo, or because the biggest threat is whether or not the heroine is going to get the love interest to fall in love with her. But it's what people need." 

Picard had the idea that she was defending herself from him - against an attack he certainly had no interest in making. "Marissa, you don't have to justify your narrative choices to me. A writer should write what they know, and they should write what they are good at writing." He licked his lips and went on, "You know, four hundred years ago on Earth, there was an English theologian who said "What class of men would you expect to be most preoccupied with, and hostile to, the idea of escape?"" He spread his hands and finished the famous quote, ""jailers." If your words are being read, your words have meaning.”

"I...thank you, sir." said Marissa, who took another drink of the wine she must have been enjoying very much, far more than its rather pedestrian vintage actually mattered. "My time on the Enterprise may have only lasted a few years, but it had a big influence on my career. I don't think I'd be the writer I am today without knowing you, ah, sir." 

"I'm sure I was only one factor in a complicated equation," said Picard cheerfully. "You know, _Number One_, I don't usually make the time to read popular fiction, but I should sit down and read a few volumes of your work." 

"I don't...uh..." Marissa was blushing deeply now, and looking around she said, "Ah! Captain, have you met Jake Sisko?" She had practically rocketed to her feet as she pulled the lanky man to their table. "His work Anselm was a big..." 

\- 

The next morning

Picard sat at his desk, raised a cup of tea to his lips, and opened a book. 

"The Field Trip. 

Personal Log  
Erika A. Gordon  
Stardate 45924

My mom suggested that I start keeping this log as a way to express my hopes and dreams and record my day like I used to tell her. Mom's been too busy since Lieutenant Wharf gave her a new assignment." Picard's eyebrows furrowed for a moment, but he kept reading. 

Perhaps this wasn't the most promising start, but how bad could it be?

**Author's Note:**

> With apologies to Stephen Ratliff. 
> 
> https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanFic/MarissaPicard
> 
> The above link will help translate this, if it's too obscure.


End file.
